


To the Goddess

by MoiraStardust



Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F, This is Bad, help me I love Liara why did I do this, i hate this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-07 08:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15904698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoiraStardust/pseuds/MoiraStardust
Summary: Liara sees her first banshee.





	To the Goddess

She lay there unmoving, royal blue blood pooling around her motionless body. She can’t— _can not_ —move. Her body trembles despite this, and her eyes screw shut at the deafening cries.

She knows she has to get up—she knows Shepard and Garrus can’t do it alone.

Somewhere there’s medigel being applied to her haphazardly, and she opens her eyes and pushes herself up. It burns and she can’t remember what it was that had attacked her or where, but she finds that right now all she can do is draw her gun.

“You okay?” Garrus coos through the firefight, slipping to where she was taking cover. He doesn’t sound particularly concerned being as she’s standing, so she simply mutters a quick,

“Yes.”

She runs her free hand over her crests, sucking in a deep breath. She still can’t see Shepard.

“Where is—“

She’s cut off by a horrible screech that bellows from deep within the monastery and rattles the room. Her pistol falls right out of her grasp and she moves to cover her ears, gritting her teeth.

From beside her Garrus doesn’t seem phased, and she’s letting out a low groan as her knees turn to jelly. It’s a sound that plunges deep into her core, coaxing her to a most unwelcome darkness.

It hurts—physically hurts. Her head is _throbbing_ and it—it’s traveling through her crests and—

She lets out a sound that’s somewhere between a moan and a cry, and she reaches for her gun. Again the cries cut through her thoughts, halting her movements.

_Where is Shepard_???

Her fingers are weak as they curl around her pistol and she blindly points it at the source of the noise.

The banshee charges Garrus who’s suddenly out of cover, and Liara flinches. He’s fine and he’s dodging successfully, but she—

_She can’t_ —

The pistol is slipping out of her hands again and she pulls the trigger, useless against the banshee’s biotic barrier.

She faces Liara. Time seems to stop as the asari’s body is filled with an intense feeling of dread.

Shepard—- _where is_ —-

She can barely react before the banshee is—she’s _right_ there.

Liara readies a warp on instinct but finds its useless and she can hear—can somehow _hear_ over the screams—

Garrus is yelling something. It’s something she can’t focus on but she knows he’s yelling and she—

Her eyes flick upwards and the banshee is towering; lanky and alien, teeth bared and—

Oh.

She hears before she feels; it’s a sickening sound of something cutting through flesh and bone—the sound of liquid hitting the floor is what prompts her to look down. She’s frozen in fear because she’s suddenly in the air and the banshee is damn near cradling her head.

And oh, _Goddess_ , the pain—it’s hot and searing and intense and she can hear—can hear Shepard’s voice.

She doesn’t register what she’s looking at. It’s blue. It’s her blood. It’s on the floor but it had been on the floor before—-there’s a—

Liara finally chokes out a scream, touching the protruding hand numbly. It’s through her stomach and she can feel—can _feel_.

She shuts her eyes to calm herself and misses the feeling of the hand going limp and sliding out of her. She can’t breathe it’s—it’s choking and consuming and the blood—it’s everywhere and in her throat and—

“Liara!”

She’s on the floor when she opens her eyes and everything is blurry but she can make out a figure running towards her. She’s confused—Her eyes aren’t focusing and once she’s being turned on her back she screws them shut because there’s a sharp pain.

“Can you hear me?”

Yes she can but she _can’t_ —

She tries to talk but it comes out gurgled and in fits so she stops and opens her eyes. She’s met with Shepard’s emerald greens full of tears and inches away.

She tries bringing a hand up but it’s weak and she can’t do much but circle her fingers around Shepard’s arm.

_Goddess_ — _was she dying_?

She briefly sees her vision cut to memories of Armali and of Benezia but she forces them away; _tenacious_.

Garrus is yelling now and Shepard is frantic.

Liara cannot speak. She tries again but nothing coherent comes out so she squeezes Shepard’s arm. The world around her is wavering and struggling and she listens to the way her chest rattles when she breathes.

Shepard makes eye contact and Liara—

Her periwinkle eyes give in to black.

Melding was a way to say goodbye.

Had she really just— _lost_? Had she—had she been too confident to consider that the reapers would eventually harvest her own kind? Had she hesitated? _Faltered_?

She opens her eyes to look at Shepard in their shared plane, relishing the intense quietness. She can’t hold this for long—even here she can feel—

Can feel the life _leaving_ her.

Shepard is still sobbing and Liara can feel her sadness but she doesn’t let it hinder her because she— she needs to— _needs to just_ —

Her legs buckle beneath her and she loses her grip on this reality.

Shepard steadies her but she can tell that Shepard is starting to feel her weakness so she hastens the meld.

“ _Shepard_.” Liara calls out in a voiceless whisper, struggling to reach out.

The commander turns and holds her closer, pressing her forehead to Liara’s. Her tears are Liara’s tears and her pain—

“ _Shepard_ ,” Liara repeats, grabbing her bondmate by the arms and steadying her. “ _Thank you. For everything_.”

_Their little blue children—their future_ —

She watches with her weak gaze as Shepard shakes her head, crying out something that she can’t make sense of. The asari can feel their thoughts separating and the last thing she feels as Shepard is an intense wave of dread and love.

When Shepard opens her eyes again the meld has left her empty and her body is cold. She feels wrong—she feels _dead_.

A weak pivot causes her to look down and she sees Liara’s eyes look up at her but it’s slow and—

Liara squeezes her arm again and the smallest curve in the corner of her mouth disappears. Her head becomes heavy in Shepard’s hand and she lets out a weak groan as Athame snuffs out the last flare in her eyes and she—-

She lay lifeless in Shepard’s arms.

Shepard is frozen. She knows she just watched Liara—her _bondmate_ —just—

She shakes her head with a fervor and pulls Liara close, hugging her limp body and letting out a choked sob. She ignores Garrus who doesn’t know what to do, who had been trying to apply medigel but it— _it didn’t work_.

She doesn’t move for what seems like eons.   
—  
The monastery stands no longer once they’re done and she can’t find it in herself to feel remorse for Falere or Samara.

The shuttle ride back to the Normandy is quiet. _Dead. Silent_. Garrus has a hand around her but she’s not focusing on it—she’s just— _staring_ —

Staring at the lifeless— _heavy_ —body in her arms.

 

Once they return she has to fucking put her bondmates name upon the wall. It goes in the middle. She doesn’t give a damn if it’s against protocol to do so.

Shepard spends the rest of her sleepless nights in Liara’s office. She ignores Glyph because the damn thing doesn’t understand that the Shadowbroker is— _gone_.

Once she’s choosing to destroy the reapers, it’s a welcome feeling to finally have her last breath. She hopes— _hopes_ —that wherever she goes is where Liara is.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is so bad I’m sorry djehwoshjsjdhdjsnnz xnxiwundjdhdnsjdj


End file.
